Search Of Bay Continues For Missing 9-year-old

The Virginia Marine Resources Commission and the Coast Guard continued searching for Michael C. Gelardos throughout the day Friday, fighting a stiff wind and limited visibility on the water's surface. The boy was lost when a 16-foot fishing boat in which he was riding capsized. The accident claimed the life of his grandfather; two other adults survived.

VMRC officers in a patrol boat and a single- engine airplane concentrated on an area about three- tenths of a mile north of Old Point Comfort and 2 to 3 miles off the southern tip of Fort Monroe, where the agency now believes the boat went down. The Coast Guard and the Navy worked about 7 miles off the beach, searching more than 600 square miles from Grandview Natural Preserve south to Willoughby Bay.

The Coast Guard suspended its search efforts for the boy Friday afternoon. VMRC will keep looking.

"We will continue the search for as long as necessary," said VMRC spokesman Wilford Kale. "This can be a prolonged situation."

Thursday, a Coast Guard helicopter retrieved the boy's 64-year-old grandfather, Gus Gelardos of Virginia Beach, who died at Sentara Hampton General Hospital. Two Norfolk residents survived the accident: George Vernon, 30, and his mother, Judy R. Vernon, 50. Ms. Vernon remains in stable condition at the hospital, according to a spokeswoman.

VMRC is investigating the cause of the accident. Kale doesn't want to rule out any possibilities - such as an equipment problem - and, to that end, hopes to find the boat, he said.

At 12:30 p.m. Thursday, about the time VMRC figures the boat went down, it was windy, and the water was choppy with some light whitecaps.

In a TV interview Thursday, the boy's stepmother, citing a conversation with the Vernons, said the 16- foot fishing boat sank when it took on too much water after two passing boats sped by. The Vernons were friends of Gus Gelardos, according to a family source.

The group was fishing "between the two bridges" when Gus Gelardos suggested the group head toward the channel - likely meaning the Thimble Shoals Channel, where large vessels go in and out of Hampton Roads - "because there's better fishing there."

When the boats sped past, Gelardos said, the boat was filled with knee-high water.

"My father-in-law turned off the boat," Gelardos said. In the time it took him to get to the back of the boat, the boat sank.

Gelardos said her stepson was the only person in the boat wearing a life preserver. But it was an adult-sized preserver. In addition, he couldn't swim, she said. The three adults managed to retrieve the other preservers from a box that didn't sink right away; they put them on and began to drift.

"They were trying to hold on to each other, but the currents were too strong, and they couldn't hold on," Gelardos said, still citing the Vernons. Mr. Gelardos, she said, was floating on his back, trying to hold his grandson up in the air and out of the water.

The Vernons lost sight of the boy and his grandfather within about 30 minutes, Gelardos said.

They said the last thing they heard was the boy crying and asking, "Is everybody OK? Are we gonna be OK?" Then, Gelardos said, another boat went by; the Vernons heard Gus Gelardos scream for help, and then nothing more.

Kale estimates the survivors spent "upwards of two hours" in the water, drifting north-northwest along Fort Monroe toward Buckroe Beach, where they were finally spotted about 500 yards offshore by people on the fishing pier who heard their faint cries.

Two lifeguards on a wave-riding craft were the first to reach the Vernons. A Coast Guard helicopter on a training flight at Felker Army Airfield at Fort Eustis received the emergency call at 3 p.m. and was on the scene in eight minutes, said Petty Officer 1st Class Dave Silva. The search was joined by personnel and boats from VMRC, the Portsmouth Coast Guard Station, Norfolk Naval Station, Langley Air Force Base and the cities of Hampton and Virginia Beach.

WAVY-TV 10 contributed to this report.

William H. McMichael can be reached at 247-7862 or by e-mail at bmcmichael@dailypress.com